A Poeme of Dauncing
Printed by Augustine Mathewes for RichardHawkins, and are to be sold at his Shop inChancery Lane, neere SerieantsInne. 1622.
Title-page--Dedicn pp 2--Of Humane Knowledge pp 1-8--Of theSoule of Man and the Immortalitie thereof pp 9-81. Hymnes pp 20
L. 1, 'maiestie': Elizabetha: and near it [meaningless] RichardYeorck.
James, but erased.
Words in this poem
- humane a.
- Pertaining to man; human. Jer. Taylor. [L. humanus: cf. F. humain. See Human.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Poeme of Dauncing is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Volume 1 of 2., Project Gutenberg ebook #44977; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Davies, A Poeme of Dauncing, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/a-poeme-of-dauncing.html, id L08730.
Form and metre
A Poeme of Dauncing is 9 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 67% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Printed by Augustine Mathewes for Richard | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Hawkins, and are to be sold at his Shop in | 11 | /˘········· |
| Chancery Lane, neere Serieants | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Inne. 1622. | 1 | · |
| Title-page--Dedicn pp 2--Of Humane Knowledge pp 1-8--Of the | 14 | /˘·····˘//˘··· |
| Soule of Man and the Immortalitie thereof pp 9-81. Hymnes pp 20 | 15 | ··············· |
| L. 1, 'maiestie': Elizabetha: and near it [meaningless] Richard | 15 | ···········/˘/˘ |
| Yeorck. | 1 | · |
| James, but erased. | 4 | ··˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.